Monday this week, Lee Enterprises, which owns the Billings Gazette, Helena Independent Record, Montana Standard, Missoulian, Ravalli Republic, and Casper Star Tribune, announced it will begin charging online users for access to their sites. Digital users will be allowed a certain number of clicks per month (depending on the particular newspaper) and then will be required to subscribe after that threshold is passed. This isn’t new. The New York Times has implemented a similar plan. Publications like the Wall Street Journal or High Country News offer free content mixed in with subscriber-only content.

My first concern upon hearing this news was how this would affect the Update Email that we send out to our members two or three times per week with the latest headlines on the cattle industry, the economy, politics and wildlife/environment. Many of our members rely  on this email to keep them up-to-date on important happenings in our industry, our country, and the world. I peruse a lot of online news outlets in compiling this list of headlines. Then I put the article titles and links in one easy list for members to pick and choose from.

I think this will definitely affect how we keep our members informed. I have already moved away from using the New York Times in favor of the free Washington Post for national headlines, I look to MSN Money over the Wall Street Journal for economic articles. The Billings Gazette has been a major source of agricultural news for our email. Now, though I intend to get an online subscription, I will try to only link to the Billings Gazette when they have content that isn’t available anywhere else. Maybe I will rely a little more on the TV station websites which are providing their content, including clips from their broadcasts, for free. There are also some other great newspapers online that still offer free content and offer fresh perspectives like the Missoula Independent , though they don’t often cover agricultural issues. So far all of the cattle industry news websites like Cattle Network are still free.

What do you think about newspapers revoking our ability to read all of their content online for free? Is it just like the switch over from Napster to iTunes for music and will take a little time for everyone to get used to? Will you pay an online subscription fee to access your favorite Lee paper? Will this affect how informed you are? Will this affect how informed the general populace is, especially assuming that many won’t pay for content from even the most credible of sources like the New York Times or Wall Street Journal?